From the Pastor – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 18, 2017

The theme throughout today’s readings from Holy Scripture has to do with forgiveness. We must always appreciate that forgiveness is a two-way street. We need to seek forgiveness as all of us are likely to do. However, forgiveness is also something we need to grant to others.

Some scholars consider Matthew’s Chapter 18, from where our Gospel Reading comes today, as perhaps among His most personal teachings to His disciples and others as spiritual leaders. There is no question that the Lord is in the process of preparing His followers for the time when they (we) must continue His Kingdom without His physical presence. He is trying to build up the sense of fellowship and cohesion among His flock.

Thus, He focuses on how to build up cooperation and unity in those who work to build His Kingdom. He makes it clear that for us to accomplish that requires forgiveness and reconciliation. The lesson for us is quite basic: we need to know, appreciate and understand the grace of Jesus and respond by learning how to forgive our sisters and brothers (all sisters and brothers in our Christian and Catholic fellowship).

Christ always forgives us if we come to Him with a humble and repentant heart, and He expects the same from us. We need to forgive others just as we are forgiven. As Jesus warns us in today’s Gospel: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother (and sister) from your heart.”

Pastoral Ponderings

Returning to the survey: Any comments regarding Liturgy and Worship at St. Mark? “The direction I sense we are being taken is pre-Vatican II. We now have “masters of ceremonies” turning pages as our priests are attempting to lift themselves above the faithful. Entirely too much pomp and little visible humility on the altar.”

In my experience, when someone makes a comment like this, they simply have no idea what the liturgical documents of the Church actually say. There are no liturgical practices at the parish that are not in conformity with both Sacrosanctam Concilium (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican II), Redemptionis Sacramentum (Instruction on Certain Matters to be Done or Avoided during the Eucharist), the General Instruction on the Roman Missal , and the Liturgical Norms of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. Observing the norms laid out in these documents is the serious obligation of the pastor and any priest who assists him in the pastoral care of the parish.

With that being said, there is certainly some latitude in how the celebrations are ordered and what options are exercised. First and foremost, it needs to be said that the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist is about offering proper worship to Almighty God. It is neither about the people in the pew nor the priest on the altar. The whole assembly is to be directed towards Christ who is the perfect offering to the Father. As previously noted several weeks ago, we offer various liturgical “styles” musically at the various Masses of the weekend to provide options for the faithful. This is an intentional decision by the pastoral staff.

In terms of the use of older servers as “Masters of Ceremonies” is a great assistance to the celebrant. When he can focus solely on offering the prayers to God it makes the Mass more prayerful and allows the flow of the liturgy to occur more seamlessly. It has nothing to do with pomp. It has everything to do with practicality. Moreover, during the course of 25 years of priesthood, I have seen many of those who served in this role eventually enter the seminary and serve the Church as ordained priests. While this is certainly not a requisite of the position, why would anyone object to a liturgical function that encourages vocations? I am very proud of the young men who take such care to learn the various elements of the liturgy and offer their service freely to God and the parish. I would hope that everyone would offer the same level of appreciation to those who serve thusly.

By and large the responses to the survey were very helpful and appreciated. As was the case in the response above, there are some that seem to simply want to grind a personal axe rather than to assume the best of intentions and offer the benefit of the doubt. If you have a question about something, then ask one of the priests. We are all more than happy to respond to questions offered in charity and genuine interest.

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Fourth Sunday of Advent

By John Putnam • December 19, 2025
As our Advent preparations draw to a close and Christmas fast approaches, it is fitting that today’s readings demonstrate the intensity of the Father’s perfect and passionate love for each of us, culminating in the gift of His own Son, Jesus Christ, on Christmas Day. As we reflect on the enormity of this gift, let us ask ourselves what we can offer in return. In our first reading, from Isaiah, the Lord invites King Ahaz to “ask for a sign from the Lord, your God.” And not just any sign. The Lord says, “let it be deep as the nether-world, or high as the sky!” Ahaz, though, cannot arouse himself from his bleak and limited outlook, and actually refuses this invitation. Undeterred by his negativity, the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, that he himself will provide the sign: “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son” and his name will be Emmanuel which means, “God with us.” What great love and patience our heavenly Father has shown his people throughout all ages! In the second reading, from Paul’s letter to the Romans, St. Paul sends a blessing of “Grace…and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This — grace and peace — is precisely the gift we celebrate on Christmas Day. Through his incarnation, Jesus brings the intimate love of God right into our midst; and through His death and resurrection, He saves us from our sins and restores us to right relationship with the Father. This is the peace that the world cannot offer. In response to such an overwhelming gift, what can we do except offer our lives as a gift in return, embracing a stewardship way of life with all the love and strength we have to give? In our Gospel passage from Matthew, we find an unparalleled example of one who embraced this way of life in St. Joseph, as he responds to God’s call to him through the message of an angel. St. Joseph immediately and humbly obeys the instruction from the angel: “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Open to this extraordinary role, he did as the angel commanded and “takes Mary into his home.” We never hear St. Joseph speak, but the Scriptures tell us he was always listening, attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit for his family. It was Joseph who found the stable where the baby Jesus would be born. No doubt it was Joseph who cleaned it up and prepared it for Mary and Jesus since we know that Mary was about to give birth. Joseph protected the family, guarded them, and tended to their safety, their comfort, and their well-being at the expense of his own plans and preferences. Though we do not hear any words from St. Joseph his actions clearly show that he offered himself, his whole life, as a gift to his family through his strong guidance, protection, and service. Let us imitate St. Joseph, then, as good stewards, giving our very lives to those around us in love and gratitude to God who has given us everything we have, especially His own Son, Jesus Christ. We will no doubt find that the more we give ourselves away, the more our generous Father will fill us with His grace and peace — these are truly the best Christmas gifts we could receive. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering Christmas is upon us and as we enter into these last days before the celebration of the Lord’s birth, I wanted to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude for the myriad ways each one of you makes St. Mark a wonderful place to pray, to worship and find a parish home. As I speak to people who visit us from other parts of the country or parishioners who, due to trips away, visit other parishes, it is nice to hear that St. Mark has something special about it. That “something special” has a great deal to do with the people who call St. Mark home. Christmas is a time to share the love of Christ, and over the past several weeks, you have done just that in our various charitable efforts, most recently our Christmas Giving Tree. Lives have been impacted for the better because of your generous response, and I know that God will bless you because He is never outdone in generosity.  Finally, please know that Fathers Angermeyer, Martinez, Huber and I wish each and everyone of you a very merry and blessing-filled Christmas!

From the Pastor - Third Sunday of Advent

By John Putnam • December 12, 2025
Good news, Christian stewards — we are gaining ground on our Advent mountain climb and it is time to take a moment to rejoice in the Good News that our Savior will come again in triumph one day. Today’s readings on this Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday are filled with reminders of God’s final victory over suffering and injustice, and encouragement to remain steadfast in our mission to live as faith-filled disciples. Such a day almost seems too good to be true, especially when we look around at the dire circumstances we face in our world at present. But by faith, we know this day is coming. Lest we grow weary as we await the glorious day of Christ’s return, St. James, in our second reading, offers wise counsel. “Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord.” “Make your hearts firm… Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another, that you may not be judged.” This is excellent advice for us Christian stewards as we face the challenges of everyday life in our broken world, especially in the hectic days that precede Christmas when stress can make us and those around us less than our best selves. St. James reminds us that we can choose our response to both the great strains and the minor annoyances of life. In other words, we can be good stewards of our attitude, “making our hearts firm” by practicing patience with others and refusing to give in to the temptation to complain. We can choose to see and rejoice in God’s presence with us, no matter the circumstances surrounding us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering Prior to the Hamas attack in Israel of October 7, 2023, I was planning to lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with our seminarians. The events of that day put that pilgrimage on hold even though we had already raised funds for the pilgrimage. Now that relative peace has been restored, we will be embarking on the pilgrimage on December 26 th . I wanted to thank all of you who supported the effort and wanted to let you know that we are finally preparing to go. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land are very special opportunities for everyone, but such a pilgrimage is especially significant for a man preparing for priesthood because it provides a completely different perspective on the Scriptures and is able to inform his preaching and teaching. Christopher Cross is organizing this for us, and I would recommend one of his trips to anyone who would like to go. Chris brings a unique blend of humor and deep faith that makes the experience come alive in a wonderful way. I have been on a number of pilgrimages, and those with Chris have been the most impactful by far.  Please keep all of us in your prayers as we prepare for the pilgrimage and certainly know that you all will be in ours as we spend the Christmas Octave in the Holy Land.